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Pride and Glory's Delay Explained by Colin Farrell
by Alex Billington
February 7, 2008
I could've been a bit more harsh and called this Pride and Glory's Delayed Caused by New Line Failure, but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Pride and Glory is a cop drama in the same vein as We Own the Night that stars Colin Farrell and Edward Norton. While not exactly a huge release, it did look fairly good (watch the trailer) and it does feature some powerful names including Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich on top of Farrell and Norton. New Line Cinema recently pushed the release date from March 14th this year to some unannounced date in 2009. Quite an odd move, but Colin Farrell recently clarified the reason for the delay, and it does involve The Golden Compass' box office failure.
Farrell was recently questioned at the press junket for In Bruges, and Jeffrey Wells from Hollywood Elsewhere was there to enlighten us with exactly what Farrell said.
"There's this rumor going around that [Pride and Glory has been bumped] because it's a mess or it's a really bad film," he began. "I feel the need to kind of speak up, not from my own end but genuinely for Gavin O'Connor because he wrote and directed it. It's just a really really strong piece, but I think New Line lost the bollocks on The Golden Compass…and they literally don't have enough money to market things."
That's quite a big "ouch" for New Line Cinema. That almost confirms my speculation that New Line was very close to going under back in December when The Golden Compass failed, but I knew that CEO Bob Shaye wouldn't let New Line shut down. As for marketing it and why New Line needs more money to do so, Farrell explains and praises the film, but confirms that it isn't anything easy to market.
"Pride is a tricky one to market anyways. It's pretty dark…I've seen it. Gavin did a great job and you know, Jon Voight is brilliant in it, and Ed [Norton] is great in it and a really strong cast of supporting characters…it's a really strong piece."
Pride and Glory is directed by Gavin O'Connor, of 2004's Miracle as well as Tumbleweeds and Comfortably Numb. The script was co-written by both Gavin O'Connor and Joe Carnahan (of Smokin' Aces). You probably won't hear anything about Pride and Glory until at least January of 2009, which is quite a long time to wait. For all we know, Gavin O'Connor could have any number of his other movies released before this makes it to theaters, considering he's got three other upcoming directing credits, including Warrior, Born to Rock, and Dexterity.
This goes to show how big of an impact The Golden Compass' box office failure really did have on New Line Cinema. They were putting everything they had, including every last penny, into the movie and when it underperformed by a lot, it really hit them hard. New Line's other 2008 movies include the recently released Over Her Dead Body, Be Kind Rewind, Semi-Pro, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Sex and the City: The Movie, and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. Most of them seem like strong comedies that will sell themselves and that they already know will be big at the box office, which is a good strategy for them to use to recover this year.
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10 Comments
1
"it does feature...Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich on top of Farrell and Norton." Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just not sure I want to see it. 😉
Nunya on Feb 7, 2008
2
I remember seeing still from this movie a long time ago. I don't know what the holdup has been. Over at IMDb, they have February 2nd, 2006 as the day they started shooting. By the time this gets a release it will be around three years of being on the shelf. Just a note, I don't necessarily see Jon Voight as a name that would get me in the theaters. Maybe if this were 1978 and it was just after he made Coming Home. Certainly not in 2008 after he made two of the most critically reviled films of the year, Bratz and September Dawn. Even Colin Farrell has a spotty record at best. The only thing to give this film any hope is the usually reliable Edward Norton.
Charlie on Feb 7, 2008
3
if new line wants more money let them make another blade film with wesley snipes and stephen norrington
Darrin on Feb 7, 2008
4
Looks like a great movie, sucks that they have to delay it because New Line cant market it because of the crap Golden Compass which we may not even get to see the second part too i dont think anyone wants too. Anyways next year is a long wait but ill most likely forget about this movie and before it comes out it'll be back on my radar.
Curtis on Feb 7, 2008
5
Damn, I was really looking forward to this.
Zach D. on Feb 7, 2008
6
This looks amazing. Loved the trailer.
Aaron on Feb 7, 2008
7
Colin Farrell is rubbish!
Bob on Feb 8, 2008
8
9
The sad fact about all this is that The Golden Compass did very well overseas, but New Line Cinemas sold the foreign distribution rights. Meanwhile, the film bombed here and lost the studio a ton of money.
John Duong on Feb 13, 2008
10
CureAngelman.org is auctioning off two tickets to the private NYC premiere with two nights in a luxury NYC hotel and two roundtrip airline tickets from anywhere in the US. Go bid.
Paula Evans on Oct 4, 2008
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